The AFL abandoned the NAB Cup competition, replacing it with the NAB Challenge series. The NAB challenge featured 18 practice matches played over 18 consecutive days, beginning 12 February and ending 1 March; the matches were stand-alone in nature, with no overall winner crowned for the series.[4] Each team played two pre-season games, many of which were played at suburban or regional venues; all games were televised on Fox Footy. There had been a proposal to conclude the pre-season with an All-Star representative match, replacing the NAB Cup Grand Final as the centrepiece of the preseason, but this did not go ahead.[5] The Super Goal was retained for these matches.

The full fixture was released on Thursday 31 October 2013,[6] and the premiership season was launched at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval in South Australia on 5 March.[2] Notable features of the draw included:

Geelong played most of its home games at night in 2014,[7] with its first game played against Adelaide on a Thursday night in Round 1.[8]

The start of the second quarter of the Greater Western Sydney–Sydney match was delayed for twenty-five minutes until a heavy thunderstorm had passed, as it was deemed to have posed a danger to the players. The start of the Gold Coast–Richmond match was consequently delayed by fifteen minutes, so that the television broadcasts of the two matches did not overlap.[13]

The attendance of 40,936 for the Collingwood vs Carlton was the lowest for a match between the two clubs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground since matches between them were first regularly moved to the ground and away from the clubs' small suburban grounds in 1986; the unconventional Sunday night timeslot, which was unpopular with fans, was the main reason for the weak attendance.[29]

Bold – Home gameX – ByeOpponent for round listed above marginThis table can be sorted by margin, winners are represented in the first half of each column, and losers are represented in the second half of each column once sorted

Fremantle and Geelong were both eliminated in the semi-finals after having finished in the top four. It was the first time since 2007 that any top four team had been eliminated in the semi-final, and the first time since the introduction of this finals system in 2000 that two top four teams had been eliminated in the semi-finals in the same year.

The International Rules Series returned for 2014 at the later time of November. Ahead of the series, the AFL adopted a new rule permitting only those who had been selected in an All-Australian team in their careers playing for the Australian team. The series was also reduced to a single test match and several rule changes were made so as to enable greater participation from key position players in the AFL.[139] Australia defeated Ireland by 10 points, 56-46, to claim their first win in International rules football since the 2010 series.[140]

On 3 March 2014, it was announced that CEO of the AFL, Andrew Demetriou, would be resigning from the post following the conclusion of the season, after eleven years in the role.[141]Gillon McLachlan was later named his successor.

On 13 May 2014, Greater Western Sydney midfielder Toby Greene was charged with a number of offences including assault with a dangerous weapon and intentionally causing serious injury over an alleged assault in a Melbourne licensed venue the previous night.[142] He was later suspended by the club for five weeks.

Just a year after being racially abused in a match against Collingwood, Sydney's Adam Goodes was once again the target of a racial vilification, this time by an Essendon supporter. While the incident went unheard during the weekend, it only came to light on 20 May 2014; the Essendon club responded by terminating that supporter's membership.[143]

As part of the ongoing investigation into the Essendon Football Club supplements controversy, on 13 June 2014, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) issued show cause notices to 34 Essendon players from its 2012 list. In response, Essendon executives lodged a Federal Court application allegeing that ASADA’s joint investigation with the AFL was unlawful and in breach of the ASADA Act.[146] On 19 September, Justice John Middleton ruled that ASADA's investigation was lawful, allowing ASADA to trigger the start of the show-cause response period, which gives charged players 14 days to answer doping allegations against them.[147]